terranunionfandomcom-20200214-history
The History of the Terran Union
What can be found here is the history of events leading up to and include the early beginnings of the Terran Union, its Government, their Technology, and the people responsible for the movement. General History Founded in 2100 C.E. when the governments of Earth came together under one banner thanks to the rapid advances in technology that allowed low income families virtually limitless access to clean sources of energy, communications, housing an even nutritious if not always great tasting food all at very low costs. Its founding parentage is attributed to business and technology magnate Alexander Kent Maddox, medical prodigy and wife of Alex Maddox, Lieandra Morgan Talbot, military and defense developer General (Ret.) Jeremiah Williams, and Kimberly Leah Maxwell, a woman whom happened to meet both Alexander and Jeremiah (when he was a raw Lieutenant) at a diner in Utah; someone with whom they used to keep themselves tethered to the common man more or less. Lieandra was added to the group only later in her 30s after she met Alexander and it became clear they would marry. While there were representatives from every country, ethnicity, and class that came together to create the Treaty of Terran Unification it is generally considered that these four people were considered the major proponents of the new system. In fact it was Kim Maxwell who penned the Declaration of Independent Unity. The document that would later be the basis for the Terran Union Constitution. Government of the Terran Union The Terran Union from its early days until today is a constitutional democratic republic. It has merely changed in scope from a planetary government to an interstellar one. The Union's Constitution was based loosely on the United States of America's Constitution and spells out explicitly the powers of the Federal government. What powers not granted by the Terran Union Constitution (and each planet must agree to abide by its rules while having a planetary constitution or charter of its own that does not conflict with that of the Constitution of the Terran Union) remain with the local planetary government. The Union Constitution allows for 3 branches of government the executive branch which maintains the military and police as well as make laws active and enforces them, the legislative branch that makes the laws, levies taxes, and budgets, and lastly the judicial branch which takes laws created by legislative and interprets them to ensure they do not violate the Union Constitution they also make sure that the executive branch does not exceed their authority. Executive Branch: This branch of the government is headed up by the President of the Terran Union. Elected into office every 5 years for no more than 3 terms the President is the undisputed Commander in Chief of the Galactic Navy and their Marines (The singular military as there is no army, etc). He's also in charge of Federal level law enforcement and various other military intelligence, police, educational, and such social programs allowed by the Union Constitution. Some of the other members of the Executive branch would also include the Presidential Cabinet, the Vice President of the Terran Union, and Planetary Governors (there would be one per planet including Earth like State governors in the United States of America). Please note while many positions in the Executive Branch are elected (and most of those positions include term limitations) there are almost as many or more that are not. A person (defined as a sentient being capable of emotion, logical thought and growth this could include Humans (Earthers and Colonials), Aliens, and even certain AI must be at least 40 Standard Years of age (or equivalent to their species) to run for President but only 30 Standard Years to run for Planetary Governor. In recent the Terran Union censuses and since there are a few planets who retain their own governments. They merely adapting to and integrating Union Tech as well as conforming to the the Federal portion of the Terran Union in so far as their Senators and Members of Parliament are duly elected and sent to the Senate or Parliament respectively on Earth. The Executive role who in most star clusters is of course the Planetary Governor. However there are systems while seeing the advantage of being members of the Union they keep in place their original government type monarchy, parliament, republic, etc. Therefore you might run into a planetary President as opposed to Governor. That being said the President of the Terran Union is frequently addressed by those planets as Lord President in order to tell the difference. That mode of address though is ONLY for planets that don't adopt the standard mode of planetary governance. Per the TU Charter they must send Senators and MPs while the ruler of those planets are considered planetary governors regardless of the titles their government use. Legislative Branch: This branch of government is bicameral and made up of a Parliament and a Senate. The Senate is made up of no more than 2 members from each world in the Union but the Parliament is based entirely on planetary population. A planet is allowed roughly 1 Member of Parliament (or MP) for every 100 million citizens. Colonies of a particular planet count towards the “home world” population until said colony is granted its own independence (meaning a colony can govern itself and be given representation and separate voting rights in the Terran Union) upon which it is granted two senators and until its population is large enough to support more it starts with only 2 members of parliament. Much like the House of Representatives and Senate of the old United States on Earth the duties are separate and then used to confirm each other like taxes, budgets and the like. For example: Parliament passes a bill with a tax increase which is then sent to the Senate for confirmation before being sent to the President to be signed into law. The Senate of course may decide to vote against the increase and come up with a different plan vote and approve it then sent it back to Parliament for approval and the cycle repeats. Judicial Branch: This branch of the Terran Union government deals in the interpretation of laws generated by the legislative branch to ensure they do not violate the Terran Union Constitution. They also try criminals presented to them by the executive branch although generally they serve as moderators and ensure procedure is followed and a jury determines guilt or innocence as well as appropriate sentencing with the Judge or Magistrate only taking over if needed, if no jury trial is requested by the accused or the crime is insignificant enough to require a trial by jury. While most governing from the stand point of the Terran Union is Federal local planetary or regional government on space stations. Regional/Planetary & City governments more or less fall along similar lines with a governor/mayor filling in the executive branch, Planetary Parliament (Senate or Assembly)/City Council for legislation, and of course elected and some appointed magistrates for judiciary matters. Please Note this is not true for all planets in the Union